Specifically, that I decided to turn back and leave the party with which I was in the process of climbing Mount Everest.
I sort of felt like I should be disappointed in myself, but I wasn’t really. I kept remembering the folks who pushed farther than they ought have, in Into Thin Air (Jon Kraukaer’s account of a particularly deadly season on Everest), and decided I didn’t want to be like them. My instincts were telling me continuing on meant a good chance of dying, and I decided to listen to them.
Actually, my instincts were telling me the whole party had a pretty good chance of dying if we went on–but I knew the rest of them hadn’t read Into Thin Air, and so were less cautious.
Mostly I felt relieved to be going back. It had been cold up there, anyway. And no one seemed particularly troubled by my decision.
As the dream trailed away I was making plans to go trekking in Nepal instead, which was all I’d ever really wanted to do there. (This is true–I do want to go to Nepal, and to go trekking when I do.)
One of those dreams that sound like they ought to be dripping with subtext and symbolism–but I suspect my subconscious simply couldn’t find a believable way to plot out my getting up the mountain alive (let alone down again), so had me turn back instead. 🙂